1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to articles of polymeric materials in tape, ribbon, sheet, and/or film configurations. These polymeric materials may be formed so that they possess no orientation or multi-directional orientation, which may enhance the integrity of the polymeric material when multidirectional forces are applied thereto. The polymeric materials of the present disclosure may be utilized in numerous applications including, in embodiments, as surgical buttresses or reinforcing tapes for staple or suture lines.
2. Background of Related Art
Films, ribbons, sheets, tapes, and the like which are made of polymeric materials are within the purview of those skilled in the art. Such materials may be produced by melting the polymeric material, extruding the material through a die, and then cooling the resulting material. This process may be very similar to methods utilized for forming filaments or films. The resulting material may be subsequently drawn at various draw ratios through a series of draw stations coupled with heated ovens or similar means in various configurations. This process may be coupled or de-coupled. The resulting drawn material, which may be in the form of a film, ribbon, sheet, tape, and the like, is usually highly oriented in a single direction, i.e., it possesses unidirectional orientation, linearly down its length (the direction in which it was drawn).
The straight pull tensile properties of these materials are usually measured in the same direction as their orientation. Such materials may thus possess great strength when pull forces are applied along the length of the material. While this unidirectional orientation may be desirable for certain uses, for example where similar extrusion, spinning and drawing methods are utilized to produce fibers such as sutures, filaments, and the like, such methods to produce tapes, ribbons, sheets, films, and the like may not be as desirable. This may be especially so where forces which are perpendicular to the unidirectional orientation of the material are applied, which may result in punctures, tears, or cuts in the polymeric material. In some cases, these tears may occur with the application of little force, which may be undesirable.
Surgical stapling devices have found widespread application in surgical operations where body tissue is joined or removed. While buttresses may be used in conjunction with stapling devices or sutures to enhance sealing of wounds, materials possessing a unidirectional orientation as described above may crack or tear with the application of small amounts of force. Moreover, when these materials are perforated by a staple or needle, propagating tears may form parallel to the unidirectional orientation, leading to premature material failure when forces are applied perpendicular to the orientation of the polymer.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a material for use with existing wound closure methods to enhance the sealing of a wound. Such materials may be utilized in conjunction with a surgical stapling device as well as sutures and other wound closure methods.